Mr HAASE (2:48 PM) —My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Would the minister inform the House of the latest information about the government's Indigenous Employment Program? What new initiatives are there that will help Indigenous people find employment?

Mr ABBOTT (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) —I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for his question. I note his strong interest in Indigenous employment initiatives in his electorate. While Indigenous unemployment is slowly trending down, it is still three times the national average. Bad though the statistics are, they actually mask the true extent of Indigenous unemployment because most Aboriginal workers have jobs which are funded by the taxpayer. The government's Indigenous Employment Program aims to get unemployment down, but more importantly it aims to get employment in private sector organisations up. I am pleased to say that the number of Indigenous training jobs has nearly doubled in the past three years to nearly 5,000. I am particularly pleased that more than 80 per cent of these training jobs are with the private sector. The number of Indigenous wage subsidy agreements is also improving after a bit of a dip last year. Again, more than 80 per cent of these are with the private sector. It is still, regrettably, a stand-out fact that the shops and businesses of country Australia have plenty of Indigenous customers but they have very few Indigenous employees. The government is determined to try to break down typecasting, particularly by employers. Under the CEOs' initiative, some 62 large Australian companies have pledged to do more to help potential Aboriginal employees. More than half of these have already established dedicated training jobs for Indigenous Australians.

In remote areas, there are very few jobs except those which Aboriginal people can create for themselves. It is hard for people who have no history of credit to get access to capital. I can tell the House today that my department is trialing a microcredit initiative in selected remote Aboriginal communities to provide interest free business loans of up to $5,000 to potential Indigenous entrepreneurs. As Noel Pearson has said, Aboriginal people have a right to take responsibility and the government wants to see grassroots capitalism in these communities drawing on the creativity and initiative of Indigenous Australians.